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Jackie Chan is a Chinese actor, action choreographer, film director, producer, martial artist, comedian, screenwriter, singer and stunt performer.

Jackie Chan was born on Victoria Peak, Hong Kong, as Chan Kong Sang (meaning "born in Hong Kong") to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, refugees from the Chinese Civil War.

He was nicknamed Pao Pao (meaning "Cannonball") because he was always rolling around as an infant.

Since his parents worked for the French ambassador to Hong Kong, Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the ambassador's residence in the Victoria Peak district.

Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia to work as head cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the Chinese Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim Yuen.

At the age of 8, he appeared with some of his fellow "Little Fortunes", in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), with Li Li Hua playing his mother. At the age of 17, he worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under the stage name Chen Yuen Long. He received his first starring role later that year, in Little Tiger of Canton, which had a limited release in Hong Kong in 1973.

Following the commercial failures in his early ventures into films and trouble finding stunt work, Chan joined his parents in Canberra in 1976, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker. A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, earning Chan the nickname of "Little Jack" which was later shortened to "Jackie" and the name Jackie Chan stuck with him ever since. In addition, Chan changed his Chinese name to Fong Si Lung, since his father's original surname was Fong.

In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stuntwork. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei, who planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury. His stage name was changed to Sing Lung ("become the dragon") to emphasise his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name was Lei Siu Lung ("little dragon"). The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, resulting in little improvement at the box office.

Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience. Willie Chan had become Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980.

Jackie Chan performs most of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. Since the team's establishment in 1983, Chan has used it in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes such that their faces are obscured.

Chan has a number of Jackie's Kitchen restaurants in cities around the world. In the fall of 2007, he opened a Jackie Chan Cafe in the Orchard Road area of Singapore.

In 1982, Jackie Chan married Lin Feng-Jiao, a Taiwanese actress. The two had a son the same year, singer and actor Jaycee Chan.

"In a 1999 scandal, he all but acknowledged paternity of a daughter with 1990 Miss Asia Pageant winner Elaine Ng," although paparazzi had also linked Jackie to "everyone from the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng to sultry pop star and actress Anita Mui."

On 10th March 2008, Chan was guest of honour for the launch, by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University in Canberra.